1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for reducing current consumption in a portable terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for reducing current consumption in a portable terminal in such a manner that the current consumption of a controller can be optimized.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional portable terminal processes a task in an on-demand scheme. The conventional on-demand scheme is a variable clock scheme in which if a task is generated at the lowest clock level, the task is processed by jumping from the lowest clock level to the highest clock level at one time and the highest clock level is dropped stepwise after the task is completed.
A shortcoming with the on-demand scheme is that once a task is generated, an unconditional jump to the highest clock level irrespective of load leads to an unnecessary increase in clock level or input voltage, thereby increasing the current consumption (i.e. thereby reducing power usage) of a portable terminal.